The Rangers swept their last two series of the first half of the season, beating Baltimore three times and Oakland four times to sit with a one-game lead on the Los Angeles Angels in the AL West division standings.

And that's just enough to make Texas the -225 favorite at Bodog right now to win the AL West title this season. The Angels sit at +190 on that futures list, with the Mariners well back at +1200 to be crowned the AL West champs.

Not helping the Mariners' cause on the betting board is the fact that they're sitting on a five-game losing streak heading into Thursday's matchup. They'll send Jason Vargas (6-6, 3.49 ERA) to the mound on Thursday to try and stop the bleeding.

Left-hander Vargas took the mound versus the Rangers at home back on May 5, earning himself a win by holding them to one run in 7 2-3 innings. Seattle has six wins over Vargas' last 10 starts.

The Rangers counter with Derek Holland (7-4, 4.68 ERA) on Thursday, and his only start against Seattle so far this season came on April 4. The left-hander won that day, giving up three runs in six innings.

Holland's last start before the break was a strong outing against the Athletics in which he surrendered just four hits over nine shutout innings while fanning seven. Texas, though, has won just four times over Holland's last 10 trips to the hill.

Bodog will have fresh odds for this series and all the weekend baseball action as the second half of the season gets underway. Get all your MLB odds at Bodog.